Developmentally Appropriate Practice and New Technologies: An Anachronistic Coupling of Old Theories and 21st-Century Artifacts

• In Event: 66.057 - Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: 66.057-5 - Questioning the "Knowledge to Action" Conduit: Child Development as the Foundation of Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The primary aim of this paper is to interrogate the DAP perspective related to uses of new technologies for learning by young children. A critique of child development as the field’s knowledge base will elucidate the notion that activities can only be considered as developmentally appropriate when related to child development theories articulated long before technologies were invented

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) updated their position statement entitled Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8 in 2012. In the opening paragraph, the document states:

Today’s children are growing up in a rapidly changing digital age that is far different from that of their parents and grandparents. A variety of technologies are all around us in our homes, offices, and schools. When used wisely, technology and media can support learning and relationships. Enjoyable and engaging shared experiences that optimize the potential for children’s learning and development can support children’s relationships both with adults and their peers.

Thus, there is a recognition of the importance of the diverse technologies in our contemporary lives but a caution that we need to use them ‘wisely’ in order to support learning and to create and maintain relationships in early childhood educational contexts.

There is both the use of the singular ‘technology’ and reference to ‘technology tools’ which are described as encompassing a the whole range of ‘technologies’ such as computers, tablets, multitouch screens, interactive whiteboards, mobile devices, cam- eras, DVD and music players, audio recorders, electronic toys, games, e-book readers, and older analog devices still being used such as tape recorders, VCRs, VHS tapes, record and cassette players, light tables, projectors, and microscopes. Then the term ‘interactive media’ is defined in terms of the things you can do with some of these devices if you have access to the applications. So that interactive media are:

digital and analog materials, including soft- ware programs, applications (apps), broadcast and streaming media, some children’s television programming, e-books, the Internet, and other forms of content designed to facilitate active and creative use by young children and to encourage social engagement with other children and adults.

Non-interactive media which relate to specific television programs, videos, DVDs, and streaming media that are not recommended for use and thus not included in the statement’s remit.
In summarizing key messages from the statement, Donohue notes:
Technology and interactive media are here to stay. Young children live in a world of interactive media. They are growing up at ease with digital devices that are rapidly becoming the tools of the culture at home, at school, at work, and in the community.

The documentation goes on to put caveats on the use of these technologies that are not applied to other resources and activities in any early years program.

This paper explores the issues, raises the paradoxes and suggests that what makes learning different in the 21st is that it is multimodal and should incorporate the use of new technologies.

Author

• Nicola J. Yelland, Flinders University, Australia